The Switch
by xthesebonesx
Summary: Set after 4x23; When Damon finds out that Bonnie is dead, he seeks the help of a familiar witch in order to bring her back to the side of the living. But what happens when the spell to give his soul to the Bennett Witch doesn't exactly go according to plan? Will they be able to deal with the consequences? Or will hidden truths and buried secrets prove to be their reckoning?


**A/N: I got this this idea from a prompt in the Bamon tag on Tumblr. Enjoy. ;)**

"_Whatever it takes,_" he says, as the woman's brown eyes meet his and a bout of air pushes through from his chest—escaping his softly parted lips. "We have to do whatever it takes to save her… We have to bring back Bonnie."

The witch in question stares at him—raises a brow, even—before she leans against the mahogany door that creates the invisible threshold between the two. She doesn't take a step, but she also doesn't slam the door in his face, and he sees that as progress.

_Especially because he's so used to seeing nothing but closed doors since he started this hopeless mission. It seemed that no one witch was willing to disrupt the balance, to bring back the dead—even if she were one of their own._

It's why he decides to finally bite the bullet and seek out _this _witch; Lucy Bennett, Bonnie's older cousin, who used to run with Katherine Pierce, some time back in the day.

Despite the fact that he doesn't _know _Lucy, he knows _about _her; he was in charge of watching over the Bennett Line once upon a time, after all.

He knows that Lucy is a free spirit; he also knows that likes to be careful. He knows that asking her to do this is the most _ridiculous _thing in the world, but at the same time, it isn't.

It isn't, because Lucy should want to bring her cousin back, just as much as he needs to. It isn't because—despite the fact that he won't ever admit it to Bonnie's face—_he _wants her back; he _needs _her back. And he's willing to do whatever it takes to help her. No matter the cost.

_And no matter the consequences._

Lucy sighs, as he arms cross over her white-sequined shirt, and her brown face glows, even though the sun has set, and dusk has fallen upon them.

_The drive to Atlanta was a bitch. Especially when he had Elena calling him every five minutes to find out where he was._

He never told her.

"What makes you think I can bring her back?" Lucy asks, as her eyes meet azure, and he purses his lip. "Bonnie is _dead, _Damon. And as much as I'd _love _to have my cuz back, The Spirits won't allow it—I can't."

Damon sucks his teeth at that, as his pale hands land in the pockets of his leather jacket and he shakes his head.

Because it's the same thing he's heard. It's the same thing they said in New Orleans. It's the same thing he heard in Montgomery. It's the same thing _everywhere._

_No one can bring back Judgy; no one is willing to fuck with the balance on The Other Side._

Nobody is willing to take a risk but him.

Damon paces in front of Lucy's door; her eyes still set on him; he rubs his forehead with a calloused hand.

"I just need to talk to them," he says finally, with a quickened breath. "Any of them—that one, Emily, preferably. She screwed me, after all, when it came to Katherine and the tomb. Maybe I can remind her that kept up my end of the deal—I watched her line."

"And Bonnie's dead, so that argument probably won't get you too far," Lucy interjects before he scoffs. "The witches don't like you, Damon; _especially_ not on The Other Side… And what happened to Bonnie… _hurts; _it hurts because _I'm _the one who told her she needed to be in this; that she _needed _to be in the middle—"

Lucy stops.

Damon looks up from the ground to meet her eyes, and he can already sense the crushing weight of regret behind her stare, even before her orbs verbalize it.

He watches silently as she brushes away a quick tear from her eye before looking up at him again; still unable to believe the simple truth that her cousin—the _hero _Bonnie—is gone, and she's never coming back.

She stands in bitter denial that he's the one to know it first; that _Damon Salvatore _is the first to figure it out, when he overhears Jeremy speaking to her ghost, from the bedroom down the hall—rallying Bonnie's words and preparing to spew more lies about her visiting her mother and taking off the first semester at college.

_Damon knows it's all bullshit, the minute he hears Jeremy telling Caroline and Elena that he spoke to Bonnie today, and she's having fun with Abby._

He knows it's shit because Abby abandoned her; because Bonnie never forgave her.

_Because Abby never even forgave himself._

Damon finally gets the truth, one night, when he storms into the guest bedroom—because yes, Jeremy is still a _guest_—and slams the boy against the wall; his fingers wrapped around his throat, as he interrogates him about Bonnie—_as he forces him to tell the truth._

Jeremy keeps up the charade for a bit, despite the pain.

Despite the _throbbing _in his chest, and the constricted air flowing to his lungs, he still lies. He still says _Bonnie's with Abby, _until finally, Damon sees something.

He sees Jeremy look _behind _him—towards somebody else—before he nods silently and his eyes narrow with defeat.

Damon looks behind him; he sees no one, but he already knows that they aren't alone. And because of that, he drops him.

_He drops Jeremy for _her _sake._

"Shouldn't send a kid to do your dirty work, Bennett," Damon says, before he turns to face the boy who's taking in deep breaths from the rug.

Damon stoops beside him and glances into his eyes. Jeremy glares back, as he attempts to stay strong.

"What happened to Bonnie?" Damon asks again; this time, sure that he'll get the _right _answer, because Bonnie knows the game is done. "What the _hell _happened to Bonnie?"

Jeremy swallows hard as he makes his way to a seated position; his back against the wall—literally and figuratively—before a searing pain meets his eyes and Damon feels a rush of _something _pierce through him.

Equal parts anger and _fear._

"She's dead," Jeremy says, as Damon's blue eyes widen and the boy shakes his head furiously. "Bonnie _died _when she brought me back."

Damon just stands there—undoubtedly _shell shocked_—as he tries to register Jeremy's words, though all logic and reason are escaping him, each time he repeats them in his mind.

Bonnie is dead.

Bonnie is dead.

Bonnie is _dead._

Damon opens his mouth to speak but no words come out. The only thing he can feel is the mind-numbing _heat _in his fingers, again, as they curl at his sides and Jeremy's eyes widen with fear.

He takes a step in—his hand touches his throat again—but he stops.

He stops because he _feels _something stop him.

_Or perhaps someone._

Damon drops his hand and stumbles backwards a bit—darkness apparent in his gaze, as he remembers what it felt like to only _wonder _if Bonnie was dead, that time on the island. And he realizes that right now, he feels even worse.

Right now, he feels _the worst, _because while Witchy has been gone, watching them all on The Other Side, no one was looking for her.

_No one—except for Jeremy—knows about the sacrifice she made and at the rate she was going, they never would._

Hell, he wouldn't put it past Bonnie to fake a move out of the country and have Jeremy send fake emails to her friends about how lovely _Paris _was, and how the beauty of _Rome _convinced her to never come back.

Because that was Bonnie Bennett; because even in death, Bonnie couldn't even rest in fucking peace.

Damon hears as Jeremy rises to his feet and the younger male rubs his throat softly as he looks into his eyes and sends him a look of painful regret.

_Regret, because he knew it was dumb as fuck to keep Bonnie's secret for so long._

"I want to get her back, Damon. I _need _Bonnie back. I-I can't live with her as a _ghost_-"

"No shit, Sherlock. This isn't _Casper _and you sure as hell aren't _Wendy._"

Jeremy sucks his teeth at that, but has no rebuttal. He can't say a thing to defend just how dumb he feels.

"So what are we gonna do? How do we get her back?"

"_We _aren't doing anything," Damon informs, as he walks towards the door and Jeremy's brows reach the sky. "I'm gonna figure out a way to fix this—I'll find a witch. There has to be a way to get her back."

Jeremy nods, though his faith is skating thin. _Especially _because he hears Bonnie say _"There is no way to bring me back."_

He sighs and shakes her voice out of his head; Damon's almost out the door.

"And what do I do? Just sit here and _wait_?"

"You give your sister and Caroline a heads up that their best friend is of the _dead _variety, and no—she isn't gonna make it to Biology. Maybe they can give somebody else her seat."

Damon leaves—despite the fact that he hears Jeremy throw something, and let out a yell of anger, before he locks the door to his Camaro and starts his engine.

He doesn't have time for temper tantrums. He has to figure out a way to get Bonnie back, and he won't do it the longer he stays in Mystic Falls. It's officially time for a road trip.

_And that's what brings him here to Atlanta, Georgia, and Lucy's doorstep—his steadfast determination, connections, and pure instincts. He finds Lucy because she is his last resort._

He finds Lucy because he can't _imagine _a life without his favorite, judgmental, Little Witch. And as he watches the tears fill her eyes, he knows it's true for her too.

She may barely even know Bonnie, but she feels connected to her. She feels the pain of losing somebody close, even though they weren't really close at all. She feels as if she's lost someone closer than a cousin or a friend and regrettably, Damon can agree.

Because it doesn't feel like he's lost a comrade or an ally, when it finally sinks into his head that Bonnie Bennett is gone—it feels like he's lost a fucking _limb._

"I'm sorry," Lucy finally says, as she shakes her head sadly; biting her lip and looking into his eyes. "I'm really sorry, Damon, but I can't. I can't bring Bonnie back."

Damon feels that familiar and defeating weight in his chest, as he surveys Lucy's' eyes and digests the devastation behind them.

_She can't bring Bonnie back. No one can. He completely and totally _failed.

Damon lingers for a second; watching as Lucy's fingers curl around the open door, as she prepares to close it and he takes that as his cue to exit.

He doesn't need another door slammed in his face to get the hint. He doesn't need to hear the sound of rejection to know the extent of his defeat.

_He's gotten the hint now, just fine._

Damon turns on his heel and begins to walk away—back to his Camaro that he'll drive back to Virginia; where he'll tell them all that Bonnie's life was never in the cards, and after all of the crying and emotion, they'll go back to normal.

As if she never even existed. As if she was really happier knowing that they could all live their lives, without her in it.

_As if she really wanted this._

Damon's fingers graze the cold metal of his door handle, before he finally yanks it open and prepares to get into his car. He's not in the mood to drive, because driving gives you too much time to think.

_The last thing he wants to think about is the odd satisfaction that bestows Bonnie's heart-shaped face, as she watches him tuck his tail between his legs and give up._

He can't bear to imagine that Bonnie actually believes she is right; or that anyone even believes her.

Damon snaps out of his thoughts when he hears Lucy call his name again, and he turns around to meet her—as the witch advances to his car; conflict mars her face.

He internally cringes.

"What? Here to tell me I'm not moving _fast _enough?"

"Here to tell you that I—might know one way that she can come back."

His undead heart stops, as he looks into her eyes and his brows furrow. He licks his teeth as he steps in closer.

"Don't shit me, Lucy," he warns. "I've got an unhappy girlfriend at home, an ex-vampire hunting teenager, and blonde pageant queen waiting at home right now, praying that I found an answer… And you wouldn't _believe _the fact that the pageant queen is actually the _scariest _one." Lucy nods at that, as her arms cross her chest. "What do we have to do?"

There's a silence between them, as he prepares to hear her say that they have to complete another Expression Triangle, or some shit that witches do, and he's prepared for it.

If he has to kill _one thousand _people at this point, to bring just _one _soul back, he will. Because it's best for everybody.

_It's better if Bonnie Bennett isn't gone._

Damon stares at her so intently, as his blue eyes glow in the dark, until finally, she says a few words. Words that sound _eerily _familiar.

"We… have to find a balance, Damon—among the dead to bring back the dead… We can't bring back one soul without losing _another._"

Damon breathes as his chest puffs out, and he feels his raven locks blow softly against the autumn wind.

His daylight ring taps against his denim jeans; his tongue runs across his lips, and Lucy holds up her hands. She shakes her head, as well.

"I knew it was crazy to even _suggest _it, but I figured I'd… let you know your options. Because it's the _only _option you have—"

"So do it," Damon says lightly, as his eyes flick towards hers; never a moment of hesitation in his voice, or a blink of his eyes. "We have to do whatever it takes."

Lucy's brow rises and she steps in a bit closer.

"Damon—I don't think that you're hearing me," she says a bit louder, as if he didn't listen the first time. "To bring Bonnie's soul back, I _have _to send another one in its place to The Other Side. I have to—"

"Kill me," Damon fills, as her eyes widen. "You have to _kill me._"

"Yeah. And I know that I'm willing to do anything to bring my cuz back if I can—for sure. But are _you? _Are you really willing to _die _for her?"

Damon stands there, silently, as he contemplates the unthinkable; ponders upon the fucking _craziness _that _he'd _ever give up his life for Bonnie Bennett, and he laughs on the inside.

Why would _he _ever die to save _her? _Why should he, anyway?

None of this was his fault; if he can assign the blame, he's definitely going to go with that _pest _Jeremy. If Bonnie had let him _stay _dead, she'd be here, and _he _wouldn't have to play house with a kid he couldn't stand, with a bad cover story as to why he was even _alive, _solely for the benefit of his girlfriend.

If Bonnie had stayed out of it, she would be here and Jeremy wouldn't. If Bonnie knew how to be _selfish, _she'd be off at Whitmore College, having the time of her life, instead of instructing her secret lover what emoticons to use in her text messages, as if that shit were normal.

_It wasn't._

It wasn't "normal" for an eighteen year old girl to risk _everything _to save the life of her best friend's little brother, just like it wasn't normal for him—a hundred-something-year-old-vampire to be alive, when he'd seen all that the world had to give.

Damon had lived his life, and made some pretty bad choices, too; but at least he _experienced _it. Bonnie? She did nothing for herself, and had _zero _to show for it. How was that fair? How was that right?

_How was that even possible?_

Damon looks up at Lucy, and she's already retreating back to her house; in sheer amazement that she even _suggested _that a vampire lose his life for a witch, before she hears footsteps approaching behind her and she stops.

She stops and looks to Damon; who isn't even wearing a hint of hesitation in his eyes, before he nods and brings all of her delusions to life.

He nods and clears his throat.

Lucy bites her lip.

"I'm willing to die for her," Damon says as he follows the woman's eyes. "Whatever it takes. _Whoever _it takes."

_Even if it's him._

XXXXX

The floor is uncomfortable, he decides, as he stares up at the red ceiling in Lucy's living room; feeling the heat of the tea candles surrounding him for the ritual, as they illuminate the room while so dangerously close to his skin.

He continues to stare up—catching quick glances of the witch, as she continues to prepare; herbs, grimoire, and salts, alike.

"Do you need a wand too?" he asks starkly, and Lucy rolls her eyes.

"_Shut up Damon."_

She continues to look through the grimoire, before finally kneeling onto her knees beside him. He watches on as she flips the pages, and Damon clears his throat before meeting her eyes.

"Do you know how to do this?"

"You sound really eager to die."

"I'm not—I just… wanna get it over with."

"Okay."

Damon sucks in some air before turning back towards the ceiling; his fingers tap against the hardwood floor.

Every time he tells himself he's _insane _for doing this, he nods in agreement. Because yes, this is the stupidest thing he's _ever _done; he's damn near banishing himself to _Hell, _for _Bonnie Bennett_ and it's almost like he didn't even think twice about it.

_It's almost like he doesn't care._

Because yes—he _should _be calling Elena, to discuss the mechanics of this—to say his _goodbyes, really_—and he should probably find Stefan, because he has no doubt that his brother would talk him out of it, like he has stopped him from readily dying before.

Damon should be trying a _lot _harder to care about what they'll think here on Earth, but he can't bring himself to do it; at least not yet.

He won't say goodbye to Elena, because she'll never understand. He won't say goodbye to Stefan, because he'd never let him leave.

And he doesn't want the attachment, honestly; he doesn't want the emotional baggage. He's fine with just _going _and making it a point to never come back.

He's not like Bonnie; he's not going to die to remain some twisted version of a "guardian angel." Damon Salvatore doesn't even want to look back.

_No._

Damon wants go, knowing that he left with the pure and utter satisfaction that things turned out the way that they were supposed to; that life continued on in Mystic Falls without him as it was always meant to, before he ruined it all.

His brother would find happiness. Elena would have her family and friends. Caroline would be successful. Even Jeremy would get a happy ending, or something like it.

And Bonnie—they would have Bonnie, and she would have them. Because it was all Bonnie every really wanted; to be _wanted._

And he was going to let her get her wish.

Damon sucks in a breath as Lucy's fingers press to his temples and he immediately shuts his eyes; the sound of her heart beating is the only thing that fills the room, until her voice breaks the silence.

He's already feeling drowsier by the second; the tone of words hits him in waves.

"_Why didn't you call to say goodbye?"_

"Because goodbyes are overrated," he says, with a small smirk. "People cry and scream and try to talk you out of leaving—even when you know it'd be for the best… Goodbyes aren't for closure. Goodbyes cause arguments."

"_And you… don't think Bonnie will be angry, knowing that you gave your life to save hers?"_

"She has no grounds to be. After all, she basically did the same for Jeremy."

"_She probably didn't plan to die."_

"And she damn sure didn't plan to _live_," he answers. Silence. "Tell her that I said she sucks at planning."

Damon's eyes completely shut this time and his body feels as though it's melting into the ground, as he hears Lucy speak again but he can't decipher words her.

He can't hear _anything _anymore, aside from his inner monologue, and it feels something like peace, as Damon's skin begins to grow cold and his body starts to go rigid, from the palms down.

Death doesn't feel painful—but it definitely feels _heavy, _as he experiences his breaths becoming shallower until they finally stop.

_Until he finally feels nothing at all. Until Damon is finally dead._

The feeling is empty, he gathers—and frustrating, too—as he struggles to move, but his body doesn't comply. He simply makes an effort to open his eyes, but no avail there, either.

What the actual _fuck?_

Was he _dead _and now on The Other Side, or was he a goddamn mummy? Why can't he _move?_

He feels a sudden jerk—a _cosmic _pull—that comes out of _nowhere, _and Damon's heart leaps so far out of his chest, that he's convinced he's having an attack the minute he feels it _beating._

_Vampire hearts actually beat, on The Other Side?_

Damon feels the sharp pain again, and he does all but cry out as it siphons through his chest again, until finally, he hears something—_someone calling his name_—and the sound is coming closer and closer until it washes directly over him.

"_Damon."_

His eyes shoot open; his body infused with feeling as it finally breaks the paralysis and he instantly feels his daze beginning to swirl over his heard when he looks up and sees Lucy—or someone quite like her—staring back at him.

Confusion washes over him as he watches the expression in her eyes; Damon swallows hard.

"It didn't work, did it?" he asks, as he looks into her eyes and solemnness replies. "The spell didn't work."

Damon sits up and lets out a sigh, before his eyes cross the floor and he sees something; something _alarming, _that he isn't even sure he's actually seeing.

Because it has to be a fucking illusion.

_He sees himself._

A live, unconscious version of _himself, _laying no more than a few feet away—just as he had been just moments before. He looks up at Lucy and she becomes stone-faced.

_Uh oh. _Did she actually _clone _him instead of _killing _him?

"Lucy—"

The eyes of his carbon copy shoot open and Damon watches on in utter shock as "he" sits up slowly and rubs his hair; mentally assimilates for a second before slowly meeting his eyes.

He hops to his feet and screams.

Damon rises too, as he holds out his hands and shakes his head quickly. Only the hands before him are _not _his own—they a deep and reminiscent brown that he simultaneously knows too well, without really knowing at all.

He looks down at his fingers before looking up again at _Damon Number Two _and his eyes widen.

This did _not _really just happen, did it?

"Lucy, what the _fuck_—"

"Damon, calm down—"

"_Damon_?" the carbon copy screeches as they advance towards him with fire in their eyes the quicker they close in. "But that's impossible. You look like—"

"A black guy? Yeah, I'm trying to figure it out myself," he says, as he glances towards Lucy and he shakes his head before he looks back to his doppelganger. "Who the hell are you?"

"You can't te—"they begin, before they stop once they noticed a pearled hand. Damon watches as the doppelganger inspects their hand thoroughly before looking to Lucy, just as he did and shaking their head. "Oh my god… You _didn't._"

"I think I did, Bonnie."

"_Bonnie?!" _Damon screams as he stares before him and the doppelgangers eyes widen. "But you look like _me—"_

"And you look like_ me," _she says as he feels his _very _human heart beating before her hands land at her waist and she inhales a deep breath. "We got _switched."_

Damon was in Bonnie's body, and she was in his.

_It looked like Damon made it to "The Other Side," after all._

**A/N: Hello all! So it's Bamon week on Tumblr and I decided to do a prompt for one of the story ideas I saw for Warlock!Damon and Vampire!Bonnie and here it is! This my first attempt in a while something CLOSE to where the show left off as canon, so take it easy on me haha. I haven't "gone here" for a little bit! Should I continue? Let me know with a review. As always thanks for reading, and Zi—this one is for you! Enjoy! :D**


End file.
